MacKean sentenced to 2 years in chained teen case

BRIDGEWATER — The Bridgewater mother looked John Leonard MacKean in the eye with deep anger Tuesday morning and told the convicted sex offender she wanted to tell him about her son.

The 17-year-old carries machetes around the house because he thinks he needs to protect himself.

He puts large knives in her room thinking she needs protection, too, and she said this has shattered any sense of peace in her life.

Her son suffers daily outbursts of anger and sobbing, breaking down for little or no reason. He’s often suicidal “and he lives in such a state of despair and relives his ordeal and what you, what you, did to him.”

MacKean, 65, was sentenced Tuesday morning to 18 months in jail for sexually assaulting the woman’s son when he was 16. He was sentenced to a further six months for communicating with Wayne Alan Cunningham for the purposes of obtaining sexual services from the boy.

Within two days of being released from prison — a sentence that will be served in a federal institution — MacKean must report to an officer to begin three years of probation.

The teen testified in March that he was blindfolded with a sleeping mask and his hands and feet were chained to a bed when a man sexually assaulted him at a cabin in Upper Chelsea, Lunenburg County, where he was held against his will for eight days.

MacKean was convicted of performing oral sex on him as he cried, unable to move.

He had arranged the encounter through Cunningham and texted him afterwards hoping for another.

Cunningham was found dead in northern Ontario where David James LeBlanc was arrested. LeBlanc was sentenced last June to 11 years for his role.

Tuesday morning, the mother told MacKean, who sat quietly beside his lawyer, that her son’s ordeal “has scarred him and it continues to this day to plague and traumatize him.”

She said her son is traumatized, unable to trust people and will likely struggle with what happened to him for the rest of his life, “and for what, your 15 minutes?”

She told MacKean her son’s grandparents, sibling and extended family and friends are also his victims as they watch the teen suffer and struggle to help him.

“Not only did you rape a young boy . . . but you raped his body, you raped his soul, you raped his future, and that is something that cannot be fixed and I am left with trying to pick up the pieces of his shattered life,” said the woman, who can’t be named because of a publication ban on her son’s identity.

Crown attorney Lloyd Tancock said the mother’s words expressed the devastating effects of such an atrocious crime.

“It doesn’t go away, it’s there for the rest of their life,” he said.

A victim can learn through counselling to cope, but Tancock said that ultimately, “it just doesn’t go away, and that’s the devastating impact.”

Defence lawyer Mike Taylor agreed to the sentence that had been recommended by Tancock.

Tancock said it took into account the abhorrence of the crimes and such aggravating factors as MacKean’s age, the boy’s age, the fact he was bound and blindfolded and that the sex act was premeditated.

Taylor said his client will be placed in protective custody and will have access to treatment programs in federal prison.

“There’s always a concern for safety for someone who’s convicted of this type of offence but hopefully that will be addressed adequately,” he said.

Taylor said it’s more likely MacKean’s safety will be looked after in a federal prison than in a provincial jail.

Taylor said the charges came as a “complete surprise” to those who know MacKean, who had been a productive member of society and had shown no deviant behaviour in the past.

He said his client has a heart condition and is experiencing “significant health problems” that will need to be addressed while he is serving his sentence.

MacKean must submit a sample of his DNA and will be registered for life as a sexual offender.

When he gets out of jail, he is forbidden from having any contact with his victim while on probation and must take any recommended mental health or sexual behaviour counselling.

“I love you,” MacKean’s daughter sobbed as her father was led away to a jail cell.

Click here to see original article written by Beverley Ware, The Chronicle Herald, South Shore Bureau